The 2017 MotoGP Thread

This is a discussion on The 2017 MotoGP Thread within Int'l Motorsport, part of the Motor-Sports category; Originally Posted by badri
Superb race by Rossi under adverse health conditions. However, after his brilliant performance on Saturday, I ...

Superb race by Rossi under adverse health conditions. However, after his brilliant performance on Saturday, I was expecting a win.

SO was I, but then everything went south. I do think that his age aggravated his recovery.
It seems none of the ex-Yamaha riders can get anything out of a Ducati!!
That straight-line monstering is something to behold, isnt it? The passes seemed inevitable once on the straights.

By the by, the last 8 laps of Moto2, anyone???
That was EPIC. Yes, in capitals!!

Last edited by manson : 5th June 2017 at 18:58.
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It seems none of the ex-Yamaha riders can get anything out of a Ducati!!
That straight-line monstering is something to behold, isnt it? The passes seemed inevitable once on the straights.

By the by, the last 8 laps of Moto2, anyone???
That was EPIC. Yes, in capitals!!

Looks like it. Ducatis and Yams seem to be the opposite end of spectrum in terms of character. Maybe Ducati would have been better off enticing Marquez from Honda than Lorenzo from Yam.

I saw the last lap of Moto2 and it was awesome. Well deserved and emotional win for Pasini! If one saw the crowd cheering after the race, they would think it was Motogp race and not Moto2.

On a side note Triumph is chosen as engine supplier for Moto2 (from 2019)replacing Honda. An exciting move I would say. Now we have 2 cylinder 250CC, 3 Cylinder 765cc and 4 cyinder 1000 cc. The gap between Moto2 and MotoGP is reduced in terms of CC and power. This would make the transition easier. Not that the current crop of riders are finding the transition difficult.

I wonder how many riders are already regretting voting for the new 70 tire. Cal and the Factory Hondas surely. But who knows things could be different at Catalunya. What's surprising to see is MV despite being one of the three who voted for the softer construction 06 still managed to keep his pace but what's worth noting is he lacked the outright dominant pace to run away from the front. He says he was thinking about the championship and didn't attack Dovi too hard. I don't believe him. He was, only he wasn't close enough. I just feel he didn't have enough confidence in the front to go hard at him in the later stages of the race like he did at Lemans against VR (200% as he said). But a fabulous ride by Dovi to take the victory at his home race. In fact a brilliant ride by him despite having stomach issues. The best of his life. His late braking skills are on a different level altogether. A well deserved victory by one of the most nicest and underrated guys in the paddock. But that Ducati is still terrible in turning mid corner/exiting (winglets?) and MV was closing up in every sector but again losing out on the long straight. The straight line speed of the Duc blasting past other factories is something to behold though, just making a mockery of the them. Now imagine if they had the winglets! Dovi could've won with a bigger margin. Paolo Ciabatti said in an interview that they are affected most by the winglets ban than anyone else on the grid because they designed the whole bike around the winglets rather than the other way round which most factories did. Now losing them has hit them the hardest and I can't see them winning again until Austin or Sepang although I would like to be proved wrong here. Jorge is having a tough time trying to be competitive. With his supreme record at Mugello I thought he'll do better here than anywhere else but it wasn't meant to be. He did show promise in the earlier part of the race when he overtook VR for the lead but then it all fizzled out. Why? May be the new 70 again. If this is the case then it's a downward spiral for him from now on. (1. First He loses winglets on the Duc. 2. Then the bike itself is diametrically opposite to what his Yam was and the required riding style as well. 3.Trying his best to adapt using thumb rear brake etc which he has never used atleast in my memory and trying to brake deeper and sacrificing corner speed which was his main strength 4.Harder front now) He was most affected in 2014 when the new harder construction Bridgestones were brought in. Now it's happening again to him. I really can't figure out how is it allowed to change the characteristic of a tire mid way through the season. Tire being the most important part on the bike and most sensitive to changes. Ridiculous that they even allow it. Why not wait until next year? Surely it isn't a safety issue. Or is it?

The Italians were happy though, what a great day for them. It was an all Italian show. Moto3 was one of the craziest I've ever seen. There's no away even a supercomputer would be able to make changes fast enough for the correct odds for the positions, so much was the overtaking and the drama involved. In moto2, that mid lap overtake by Pasini gave me goosebumps.

PS: Very very surprising to see MM run the Medium front and DP run the hard front instead.

I wonder how many riders are already regretting voting for the new 70 tire.

I think quite a few of them already. If this tyre can pose a problem in Mugello with high temperature, imagine what would be the number of crashes in cooler temperatures with the hard carcass struggling to come up to heat. Unfortunately, Michelin was forced to dump their hard work in developing 06 and go back to last years tyre. Also, the compound - carcass combination is not an easy match and can throw all expectations out of window (as Honda riders found out). In my opinion, Lorenzo was right in suggesting that they try a few races running both the constructions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonsterPatrol

What's surprising to see is MV despite being one of the three who voted for the softer construction 06 still managed to keep his pace but what's worth noting is he lacked the outright dominant pace to run away from the front.

I think today's result was the best Vinales could do. If Rossi was in good shape, he would have probably won the race and Vinales would have been third. This is a superb result for him and did massive good for the championship.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonsterPatrol

they are affected most by the winglets ban than anyone else on the grid because they designed the whole bike around the winglets rather than the other way round which most factories did.

+100. Not only Ducati but most of the bikes were affected by winglet ban and it was especially evident at Mugello. Check out the wobble of Rossi's bike at 2:08 in the video below. This is what most riders had to endure due to the lack of down force on front wheel at the end of the straight in Mugello. I would say that the decision being taken by Safety commission to ban winglet seems pretty stupid. The risk of rider having an accident after a wobble like that far outweighs that of someone being gored by a streamlined (not sharp) winglet in a crash.

Jorge is having a tough time trying to be competitive. With his supreme record at Mugello I thought he'll do better here than anywhere else but it wasn't meant to be.

He may take a few more races to get real comfortable but eventually the win will come. In the second half of the year when Ducati introduces aerodynamic fairing it should help the turning in better, albeit at a loss of top speed. His performance at Jerez, a traditionally weak track for Ducati shows just how much effort he's putting in to bring the best out of Ducati. Petrucci mentioned that Jorge was braking 5-10 meters later than himself and Dovi. Considering that Dovi is probably one of the latest brakers on grid, it's a massive effort by Jorge. I too was expecting better result from him at Mugello but looks like he went back to the corner speed mode rather than hard braking mode. Either ways I'm sure that the second half of the season will see a more competitive Jorge.

Looks like it. Ducatis and Yams seem to be the opposite end of spectrum in terms of character. Maybe Ducati would have been better off enticing Marquez from Honda than Lorenzo from Yam.

Marquez was their first choice but they weren't willing to pay him 20 million euros since Honda reportedly pays him about 16 million now.
They eventually settled with Jorge for 12 million euros. There is a photo from last year's Motegi championship winning celebration where MM poses with his crew for the camera and all the Ducati guys, especially Gigi are in the view staring at him, almost as if they knew he was the one they wanted for the GP17.

Lorenzo is the new Marquez. Marquez is the new Lorenzo. was fascinating to watch Jorge getting it all sideways. Dovi, class act again Not a single lap in 1.48s. Played the tyre management to perfection sticking behind DP. Well deserved victory. Would have liked to see Dani do better but 3rd keeps him pretty much in championship contention still. Yamahas? Not sure they could've done any better even if they had tested here with the track temp soaring to 55. Now we wait for rider interviews. Next is Assen, the best track on the calendar.

PS: Petrucci should've been penalised during the race in my opinion. That was just way too rash at the start but he crashed anyway so what the heck.

Superb race by Dovi! Who was expecting it? Before the start, I was under the opinion that Pedrosa had to just make a good start and race away into distance. Dovi rode a super cool race, waited for his time, took the lead and never looked back. After the race Dovi said that he was not even pushing. Maybe sign of more to come from him this year.

Was surprised to see Lorenzo blitzing away on a hard rear tyre and was expecting that he may take his first win with Ducati. Once he started dropping off everyone thought that he is going the Mugello way. The hard tyre helped in the last laps and he managed to get the fourth.

One of the worst weekends for the factory Yamahas. Both the Tech 3 guys finished ahead of them. This has led to speculation that Yamaha may test 2016 bike tomorrow. Vinales was quick to rubbish it and said that the 2017 bike is better.

Once we get to tracks with better grip, I guess Yamahas will fly again. The next track with bad grip is apparently Valencia. That's a long way to go.